Committee spells out steps to protect and rehabilitate children affected by armed conflict

06/12/2017

Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development

Children traumatised by armed conflict need specialised support to re-build trust and create “new positive life experiences”, PACE’s Social Affairs Committee has said.

Approving a draft resolution today in Paris based on a report by Sevinj Fataliyeva (Azerbaijan, EC), the committee said it was “very worried about the short and long-term consequences of armed conflicts on children: they are immediately affected in their daily lives, their healthy development, and their trust in other human beings and public institutions. Many of them will subsequently be traumatised for their entire lives.”

The committee proposed a raft of measures, including rehabilitating child soldiers, training professionals to deal with children who have left conflict zones, and educating children on “non-violent approaches for ending aggression and conflict”.

The Assembly is due to debate the report at its forthcoming plenary session in January 2018.